Voter turnout up, senator credits Voter ID law (Updated)

Update: Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, said the real effect of the photo ID requirement won’t be known until a study is made of all the provisional ballots cast in Tuesday’s election, to determine if they are ultimately counted, and whether certain groups — particularly women, the poor and minorities — were required to use that process to vote more frequently than others.

“We want to see how many are actually counted,” he said. “We will try to make contact with as many voters as we can” who were asked to sign provisional ballots.

But that raises another issue: What about voters who were just turned away? A voter in Houston’s Precinct 133 wrote to the Chronicle with her account of voting on Tuesday:

A man and his wife in front of me in line asked the person about a provisional ballot. He had his driver’s license and voter registration card, but his wife, who had her voter registration card, had forgotten her license. It was after 6pm and they had 2 young kids who were squirming. The volunteer at the table said there was no way his wife could cast a ballot without a photo id. I overheard all this and suggested that there were supposed to be provisional ballots available. The volunteer offered to check with someone else who knew more, but it was late, the kids were obviously tired, so the couple said not to bother. The husband voted, the wife did not. On the table when my turn came up was a sheet explaining the law, and it specifically mentioned provisional ballots for those without proper ID. So yes, people were turned away, or at least one was and clearly the volunteer working at that time had not been instructed as to how to allow those without proper ID to cast a provisional ballot.

ORIGINAL POST:

Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, says the Texas Secretary of State’s office believes that turnout for Tuesday’s election will be double that of the 2011 constitutional election, based on tracking early voting turnout, and he credited the law he passed requiring voters to show photo identification.

“I’m incredibly pleased with the initial rollout of voter ID,” said Fraser. “While there were rumblings that this law would disenfranchise voters, it turns out those claims were based on politics, not practicality,” he added.

Fraser said the new law was intended to increase public confidence in elections. “I’m confident that we accomplished just that; Texans were able to make their voices heard and know that they did so securely,” he said. “I feel comfortable in knowing that the election process will continue to run smoothly as we move forward. If this election was a test of the new voter ID system, the state passed with flying colors.”

The new law still faces a court challenge. Democratic and minority groups still maintain that the law suppresses voter turnout, especially among minorities, women and the poor. A Corpus Christi federal judge will hold a hearing in that case Nov. 15.